Percy wonders why Leo got this truck. It's massive, and Leo's not. Gods, Percy can barely get into the truck himself without a running start.
He loves this truck.
He buckles his seatbelt and puts the key in the ignition. With a twist of a dial- not a gearshift, a dial- the air conditioning is on full blast. It was so hot in that club, Percy doesn't care that it's blasting strong enough to make his eyes water.
Annabeth laughs like a hyena in the backseat. "Why do you have a step stool in this bigass truck?"
So that's how Leo gets in and out.
Percy watches his drunk ex-girlfriend flop onto her side, almost hitting her head on a baby's car seat. It reminds him of a fish out of water.
"Hehe, I just laid down on a nail."
"Are you ok?" Percy asks. It's like talking to a kindergartener.
Instead of answering the question, Annabeth asks, "Will you play music?"
Percy doesn't see any reason not to, so he turns the radio on. It's a classic rock station. He leaves it on, partly because he likes Guns N' Roses, and also because he doesn't know how to change the station.
"She's got eyes of the bluest skies, As if they thought of rain...I'd hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain..." Annabeth sings along with the radio. For someone who's completely wasted, she's got a pretty voice.
Percy taps his fingers on the wheel as the song continues, wondering if perhaps the drunk woman in the backseat would be a good person to mention the prophecy to. She won't remember it in the morning, but then again, he doubts her advice would be good for anything. He misses when she was the first person he'd share any prophecy with.
Suddenly, Annabeth is clutching the back of his seat. Her breath smells strong like booze.
"C'mon, Percy, you used to sing this to me," she says.
Wow. Percy had forgotten flying down the road in Paul's Prius, either to or from a date at the pier with his Wise Girl. She'd tease him for having only one CD in the car: Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses. He used to know all the words to every song by heart. They listened to it together all the time, yet somehow he'd buried that memory deep into the back of his mind.
And an incredibly wasted Annabeth Chase just recovered it.
Percy smiles. She may be drunk, but what's the harm in reliving one of their old memories? This one seems harmless enough.
"Woah, oh, oh, sweet child o' mine..." he sings along with her for the rest of the song.
Annabeth throws her head back and laughs when it's over. "I missed that!"
"Me too!" agrees Percy.
"They play all your favorite songs at Hooters!" she shouts.
What? Hooters? What in Hades is Percy supposed to say in response to that?
"Uh, I've never been," he says.
Annabeth gasps. "Percy Jackson! I am offended!"
"Is it because you like owls?" he teases. "For some reason, I don't think Athena would like them using her sacred animal as a sexual innuendo."
Annabeth carries on as if Percy didn't just mention her mother. "They have good wings! I'll bring you some!"
"I live the entire way across the country, but I'd love to see you try," Percy says. Honestly? He'd love an excuse to see her again, even if it's just for wings.
Percy has a lot of trouble parking Leo's truck in the garage; it barely passes the clearance. Actually, it doesn't pass the clearance. The antenna hits the yellow beam on the way into the garage, but Leo doesn't need to know that.
Percy helps Annabeth out of the backseat and steadies her on the pavement. "You good?" he asks.
She hiccups. "Your parking job is straighter than me!"
Percy decides not to read into that. "C'mon, let's get you back to your room."
Annabeth clings onto his bicep and follows his lead.
The elevator ride is a little rough, and Percy can't imagine how much worse it would be had they chosen to take the stairs. He has to steady Annabeth, and he's pretty sure she's trying not to get sick from the jolting halt as the elevator comes to a complete stop.
"Where am I taking you?" Percy asks.
"Back to your room is fine with me," she says.
Percy rolls his eyes. "It won't be fine with you tomorrow morning. Now, where is your room?"
"Oh, you'll kill me for this."
"What?" he asks.
Annabeth furrows her eyebrows. "I can't remember. I don't even know if I brought my keys out with me."
"Retrace your steps. You're on this floor for sure, right?" Percy wants to help.
"I... shit, did I drop my chopsticks? Can you check?" Annabeth pats her bun, searching. So they are chopsticks after all.
"You started with two, right?" Percy asks.
"Yeah. What was I saying again?"
Percy purses his lips. He really doesn't want to do this, but he has no other choice. He can't leave her in the hall, and he certainly can't parade her around to bang on every door until they find her room.
"You can stay with me, but just to sleep, and just for tonight. Fine?" Percy proposes.
"Hell yeah," Annabeth says. She licks her bottom lip, but it isn't very hot. "Lead the way."
It isn't worth explaining to her once again that this night won't end up the way she's thinking it will. Percy guides her to his room and unlocks the door as Annabeth tugs on the hem of his shirt.
Annabeth pushes through the opening and falls backward on the bed, waiting impatiently. Percy wants to be annoyed, but he remembers that this isn't the real her trying to seduce him after dumping him without giving a reason.
She props herself onto her elbows and looks at him expectantly. Percy can see the tattoo on her thigh more clearly in the lighting of the lamp. It's a snake, wrapped around a dagger.
Percy knows that dagger. The one Annabeth lost in Tartarus so long ago. It was a gift from Luke Castellan, the man who'd picked her up on the streets and delivered her to Camp Half-Blood, promising to be her family forever, and, Percy suspects, he was also her childhood crush.
Luke Castellan was also the man who'd betrayed Camp Half-Blood and the gods in favor of Kronos and the Titans. Annabeth could have bled out and died because of his army. Percy didn't feel anything except maybe relief when she told Luke that she only loved him like a brother. But now, seeing that dagger covering Percy's trident, he felt as if he'd been the one that betrayed Annabeth. How could he have let her down like this?
That's supposed to be his symbol on her leg. She'd gotten it on a whim, so confident that they were meant to be together forever. It was more than just a stupid trident. Annabeth defied her mother's orders and even her own expectations just to be with Percy. It made him feel good at the time, confident, and selfishly, a little bit possessive, seeing that he was permanently imprinted on her body. He thought they were endgame.
And now Luke's dagger decorates her thigh, large, bursting with color, and more elaborate than the trident had ever been. Percy wonders when that happened. Did she get it covered up as soon as she ended things? Or had she waited until it faded and would have needed to be touched up anyway?
It's just a stupid tattoo. Percy shouldn't feel this upset. Besides, she's his ex-girlfriend now. She doesn't have to wear his symbol. Then again, she's wearing Luke's dagger large enough for anyone to see. It's bold and fierce. The snake looks so real and ready to strike. Percy can't imagine kissing the snake the way he kissed the trident.
Annabeth clears her throat expectantly. Right. He has a horny drunk woman in his bed.
First thing's first. "Let me get you something to sleep in," Percy says. He's sure one of his shirts will cover more than her dress, but he takes a pair of sweatpants from his still unpacked suitcase anyway. He's not sure he can stand to look at that tattoo for much longer.
Annabeth groans as Percy helps her sit up. "Unzip me?" she asks.
Percy obliges, pushing her hair out of the way so as not to catch it on the zipper. He settles his gaze on a moldy spot on the ceiling, trying to save what decency might be left in her.
There's a tug in his hair. Percy's greeted with the sight of his blue and white tye-dye t-shirt falling from Annabeth's shoulder. It's cute.
"It's too hot for pants," she says, pressing her thighs together. She pulls the chopsticks from her hair and hands them to Percy. Taking note of the sharpened edges, he carefully sets them on the nightstand.
He drapes her dress over a chair. "Go to sleep. I'm going to try to grade some papers."
"You're no fun," Annabeth pouts as she climbs underneath the covers.
Percy turns on his laptop and settles in next to Annabeth, but above the blankets.
Annabeth sighs and clutches Percy's forearm, pressing it against her chest. He tugs, trying to get his arm back. As much as he missed Annabeth, this is not the kind of reunion he was expecting.
She cracks a nostalgic grey eye open and stares as if studying him.
"I need two hands to type," Percy says matter-of-factly.
She mumbles something incoherent and pulls him closer.
Percy tries to reclaim his arm, but even drunk, Annnabeth's grip is beyond tight.
"You're lucky it's almost two in the morning," he says, shutting down the laptop and turning off the lamp.
***
"Shit, shit, shit."
Percy wakes up to his ex-girlfriend scrambling around his room. She's surprisingly mobile given the state she was in last night.
"Mornin'," he says. "Sleep okay? I put your dress and your shoes on that chair over there."
Annabeth nibbles her lip. "Listen, whatever happened last night, didn't."
Percy folds his arms behind his head. "Nothing happened."
"Good." Annabeth tugs at the hem on the shirt she slept in.
"You can hang on to that for now," Percy says. "And I'm telling the truth; we didn't do anything, as much as you wanted to. Gods, I thought you knew me a little better than that."
Annabeth smooths the shirt over her legs. "Good," she repeats.
"Do you need anything?" Percy offers. "I have Tylenol in my bag, and I think there's water in the fridge."
"I have the same stuff in my room," she says.
Percy holds back a laugh. "Last night, you didn't even know where your room was."
Annabeth rakes a hand through her hair and collects her things frantically.
Percy can't stand the silence. "So that tattoo..."
Annabeth notices the moldy spot on the ceiling.
"Why'd you cover it up?" he asks.
She crosses her arms over her chest. "We're not dating anymore. Why would I want a trident on my thigh?"
Seeing that Annabeth doesn't want to talk, Percy climbs out of bed and opens the door to let her out.
She grunts a quick "thank you" and peers out into the hall like a clownfish emerging from its anemone.
"I'd love to catch up with you sober sometime," says Percy. "It's been a while."
Annabeth doesn't reply. She disappears into the hallway.
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